Hot Topics:

Boulder Shoot Out: The longest day in filmmaking

Festival challenges competitors to put together film in 24 hours

By Peter Budoff Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
09/23/2009 09:04:02 PM MDT

Updated:
09/24/2009 10:58:25 AM MDT

If you go

What: Shoot Out 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival

Registration: Participants can register online at theshootoutboulder.com until midnight Thursday, or in person Friday at a kiosk in front of the Boulder County Courthouse on the Pearl Street Mall. In-person registration will begin at 5 p.m. Teams can register for the 17-and-under division ($50 for the first two team members and $20 for each additional member) or the 18-and-over division ($100 for the first two team members and $20 for each additional member).

Attending the screening: The top 10 films will be screened at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. Tickets can be purchased for $15 at the theater box office.

The process -- writing, rewriting, shooting, reshooting, editing and producing -- can take months, even years.

But for participants in the Shoot Out Boulder filmmaking festival, the period is shortened a bit -- to one day. The sixth annual festival, which begins Friday evening, will challenge competitors to put together a film in just 24 hours.

"It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun," said 19-year-old Sam Gansfield, who participated in the event last year and will compete again this year.

Advertisement

At about 5:55 p.m. Friday, competing teams will gather in front of the Boulder County Courthouse and will be given a list of 11 items, five of which must be included in the film. They will have the next 24 hours to put together a seven-minute-long film. The top 10 films, as determined by a group of volunteer judges, will be screened at a public event Sunday afternoon at the Boulder Theater.

The Shoot Out was originally launched in Australia in 1998. Michael Conti, the Boulder festival's executive director, came across the Australian event on the Internet in 2002.

"I thought it was so creative, so unique," he said. "I thought it would be a good opportunity for people in the Boulder area to show their work to the community. This was before YouTube, so it was hard for people to get their work out there."

Conti started the festival in Boulder in 2004. Since then, he said, it has attracted an average of 50 participants each year, and the Boulder Theater has been filled to capacity for the Sunday screenings.

"For me, the success of the event is based on how much the community embraces it, and I think the community has definitely embraced it," Conti said.

Along with the time constraints, there is a limit on how the films can be edited. Competitors are only allowed to edit on their cameras, which means that all footage must be shot in sequence.

University of Colorado students, from left, Adam Braverman, Jason Potter, Alison Sherberg and Cody Hart finish their last shoot of the day on Pearl Street during last year s Shoot Out filmmaking festival.
(
Mara Auster
)

"The hardest part was definitely shooting things in order," said Gansfield, who studies film at the Colorado Film School in Denver. "I originally wanted to start with a daytime scene and end with a night scene, but then I realized that wasn't possible because the event started at night. You have to work with the conditions."

The event attracts people of varying ages and experience levels.

Dave Bierman, of Longmont, will be operating the camera for his 13-year-old son and his son's four friends. Bierman said he thinks the event will be a good way for his son -- who has shown interest in making movies -- to be introduced to the world of filmmaking.

"He's very excited," Bierman said of his son. "He's got it all planned out. He's developing storyboards, getting his props together."

Bierman said the results of the competition are not as important as what his son gets out of it.

"I hope he gains a lot of confidence in what he can do in a short amount of time," he said. "I hope he has a lot of fun, and I hope it is an experience he will remember for the rest of his life."

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story